Round 5

Centenary Festival - 7th July 2013

Race Report & Results

Qualifying

A huge variety of Aston Martin Racing machinery was assembled for a spectacular qualifying session. Cars ranging from the latest Vantage GT3, to current GT4s and some very quick classics all took to the track under sunny and warm conditions on the historic Brands Hatch GP circuit.

At the 30 minute session’s conclusion, it was the invitation class Villois Vantage GT3 that took the pole position with a time of 1:26.247 ahead of the Bilstein liveried GT3 of Paul White & Javier Morcillo. The fight for GT3 qualifying honours was a fierce one, with older DBRS9s mixing it with the more modern machinery. 3rd place was taking by the Mark Poole & Richard Abra Barwell Motorsport car.

The GT4 class battle was similarly intense, with ex British GT champion Bradley Ellis taking 1st place in the #68 TRG – Aston Martin Racing car, by 0.056 from a hard-charging Tom Onslow-Cole in the #5 Mardi Gras machine. Olivier Bouche & Pierre Mantello set the 3rd quickest time a further 0.113 back, the trio of white GT4s comfortably heading the class.

The presence of a number of professional drivers meant that time penalties would play a major role in mixing up these positions once the race started.

Race

After a minute’s silence on the grid to honour the memory of Allan Simonsen, the race got underway at 13.18. The field thundered through Paddock Hill bend without incident, with only light contact between Paul Cripps & Bolaji Odunsi reported at Druids.

After the initial exchanges, the running order overall was #100 Villois 1st, #80 Barwell Motorsport 2nd and #77 Paul White Racing in 3rd. On lap 4, the #66 car of Rob Nimkoff pitted with a reported braking issue, slightly after this, the #32 22GT car pitted with a loss of power steering, unfortunately for Adrian Willmott & Tom Alexander, this failure proved to be terminal.

On lap 8, the silver GT4 of MCD with Jerry Bailey had a huge moment exiting clearways, leading to a trip through the gravel on the outside of the pit straight. Jerry held the car as it drifted through the gravel and continued, a great save. Ten laps in it was the Villois GT3 leading overall, with Brad Ellis in the #68 TRG car leading GT4, ahead of Oliver Bouche in the #22 and Tom Onslow-Cole in the #5 in 3rd place. The 2nd place GT3 car of Richard Abra was keeping the leading #100 honest, traffic already proving to quite a task to manage for the front running cars.

The #1 AMR and #7MB Racing cars made contact at Druids, however this was ruled to be a racing incident by race control and no further action was taken. The pit widow opened on the 30th minute, with the pit lane becoming congested very quickly as the teams made their mandatory stops. By lap 23, Stuart Hall and John Gaw were enjoying a close fight in their GT3s, John in the newer Kinfaun Vantage GT3 being tested by Hall in the older DBRS9.

The win that Oliver Bouche & Pierre Mantello took on the previous day would not be repeated due to a lengthy pit stop following a puncture on their #22 Stratton Motorsport car dropping them down the order. James Martin, now driving the #1 AMR was narrowly avoided as he exited the pits by the #80 Barwell Motorsport & #77 Bilstein cars as they scrapped for a the podium positions behind Villois.

As the race progressed in to the afternoon, there was mechanical issues for the both the #87 Drayson Racing GT3 and the #29 GPR Vantage GT4, both retiring on the GP loop. As Villois maintained their commanding lead, Calum Lockie, now in the #27 Track-Club.com car assumed the lead of the GT4 class after putting in some blistering laps.

With less than 10 minutes of the race to run, a flurry of drive through penalties was issued by race control for yellow flag infringements. The culprits included the leading #100 Villois car, being driven by Massimiliano Wiser. The driver through cut the lead to only a few seconds, with John Gaw pushing hard in the black & blue GT3. At the flag, Wiser managed to hold on to the win by 5.475 seconds, rounding off a dominant afternoon for the Italian squad. John Gaw & Phil Dryburgh took 2nd with Richard Abra & Mark Poole taking 3rd.

The race was a fantastic celebration of Aston Martin Racing and the extended family that we have. We thank each and every one of you for making the weekend so special.

The next round of the GT4 Challenge of Great Britain takes place at Spa on July 26 & 27. Anyone interested in hospitality passes to attend as a spectator/guest or competing in the race on an ‘arrive and drive’ basis with Stratton Motorsport should go to www.astonmartin.com/gt4challenge for further information.